The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Four-year low for house fires but crews kept busy at crashes
Number of accidents attended by service rockets by 20 in past year
House fires in Perth and Kinross are at a four-year low.
Only one person has died as a result of a blaze since 2014 and in the last year 109 homes have gone up in flames, compared to 137 the previous year.
It is the lowest figure in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s (SFRS) reporting period, which goes back to 2014-15.
From last April until the end of March there were 15 people injured in accidental house fires, a drop of 24% compared to the same period last year.
There were 56 fires in non-domestic buildings, also a four-year low.
The new figures were revealed to Perth and Kinross Council’s housing and communities committee.
Gordon Pryde, SFRS area manager for Perth and Kinross, said: “This is a fairly positive result but we will continue to drive these numbers down as far as we can through our prevention work.
“Within Perth and Kinross we will continue to work with our partners to ensure we positively contribute to driving down the risk to our communities and staff by analysis of our operational activities and targeting those most at risk and vulnerable, particularly around unintentional harm in the home.”
Conservative councillor Roz McCall praised firefighters for their work in reducing the number of blazes. “This is very positive,” she said. “Your mind automatically goes to the red arrows (the negatives) but we are actually doing exceptionally well and I would like to pass on my thanks.”
However, it was not all good news as the number of crashes attended by the fire service has rocketed by 20 in the last year.
Firefighters had to help at 116 collisions between April and last March, compared to 86 the year before. It is the highest number in the four-year recording period, compared to 94 in 2014-15.
Despite the spike, there have only been four deaths in crashes, compared to nine for years ago. Non-fatal injuries are at their highest since 2014-15 at 94.
Mr Pryde said crashes make up around 5% of incidents attended.
“The SFRS has become increasingly involved in more non-fire related prevention work, in support of its role in promoting the wider safety and wellbeing of its communities,” he added.